


reunion (bran)

by abrahamsdaughterraisedherbow



Series: stark reunions [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 09:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11438052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrahamsdaughterraisedherbow/pseuds/abrahamsdaughterraisedherbow
Summary: reunion (arya, bran, jon, sansa) coming soon.





	reunion (bran)

Bran arrived a few days later.

  
Arya and Brienne had gone into the woods to practice sword fighting. Brienne had promised Arya that they would get to practice together and Arya had made sure that Brienne would be good on that promise.

Whether or not she cared to admit it, Arya looked up to Brienne. Neither had ever been considered beautiful by men's standards, though it could be said that Arya had a wild sort of beauty.

  
Brienne was not beautiful, but she did not seem bothered by it, and that was the very thing that Arya responded to the most. Brienne didn't need beauty. She didn't need dresses or braids. She had her sword and she had her honor, and that was enough. Arya longed to be like Brienne, free from the trappings of being a woman, though she was already more like Brienne than perhaps even she realized.

  
For Arya, too, had no regard for a woman's limitations. When her father had told her she would marry a lord and bear sons who would become knights, she told him no. That was not for her. And it still wasn't. Her father's death had not changed that. It had evolved, perhaps, since then, but Arya was not any more interested in marrying a lord and bearing him sons than she had been before.

  
She envied Brienne in that right. No one was telling Brienne to marry into a highborn family and bear highborn children. Not that anyone was really telling Arya that anymore anyway. Not that she would let them.

  
They made their way out towards the woods until they found a clearing. Before long, swords were clinging in the air; slender, crafty Needle against strong, brutish Oathkeeper.

  
Arya was about to bring it to a draw when Brienne paused and stepped back.

  
"What are you doing?" said Arya, almost indignantly. She would not be patronized because she was small and Brienne was large.

  
Brienne remained still, her eyes darting toward the surrounding trees. Then they both heard a twig snap. Brienne stepped in front of Arya.

  
"Whoever is hiding," said Brienne. "Show yourself!"

  
A young woman with dark curly hair emerged from behind a nearby tree.

Brienne's hand clenched around the handle of her sword.

  
"Who are you?"

  
"Meera. Meera Reed."

  
Brienne did not relax.

  
"What are you doing in this part of the woods?"

  
"Please," said Meera. She looked intimidated. "I'm just trying to help my friend find his way home."

  
"Where is your friend? Produce him."

  
Meera went back behind the tree. A few moments later, she emerged dragging what seemed like a makeshift sled behind her. A teenage boy was sitting in it, covered in pelts.

  
"And who are you?" said Brienne.

  
"Who are _you_?" He responded. "You're not from around here, are you?"

  
There was a rustling as Arya stepped out from behind Brienne.

"Milady," Brienne began, but Arya raised her hand.

"I can look after myself," she said, a little defensively.

"Yes, you can," said Brienne, and Arya detected a bit of pride in her voice. Brienne said nothing else and withdrew.

Arya walked slowly toward the sled, her expression cautious.

  
"You wouldn't happen to be looking for Winterfell, would you?" She asked quietly.

  
The boy's eyes widened.

  
"Arya?" He said.

  
Arya edged closer, and there were tears in her eyes.

  
"It can't be you," she murmured. "You can't be Bran. Bran's dead."

  
"No," he said, his own eyes starting to look misty. "Arya, it's me. It's really me."

  
Arya knelt by the sled, directly in front of him. He had grown, far from the young boy back in Winterfell, but it was definitely him.

  
Arya reached out and shoved him.

  
"I thought you were dead," she said, her voice rising in volume. "I thought you were dead!"

  
Arya shoved her brother again, and then threw her arms around him. Bran held her tightly, feeling her tremble.

  
"You're alive," it came out in a sob. "You're alive. Bran..."

  
" _You're_ alive," said Bran, his grip around her tightening. Bran did not cry for anything, but his eyes were beginning to sting a little as he held his sister in his arms. He had not been sure he would ever see Arya again after their father was killed, and he certainly did not expect to find her back at Winterfell.

But here she was.

  
Arya broke away from Bran to look at him properly.

  
"We have to get you back home," she said.

**Author's Note:**

> reunion (arya, bran, jon, sansa) coming soon.


End file.
